Vitamins for the chancellor
Germany's apple queens visit Merkel
Germany's apple queens visiting the chancellor's office. f.l.t.r.: Manfred Nüssel (DRV chairman), Jennifer Kreinacker (apple queen from Lake Constance), Lisa Grodek (apple queen Brandenburg), Gesche Wick (blossom queen Altes Land), Kathleen Goldammer (blossom queen of Saxony), Ilona Lubaschewski (blossom queen Meckenheim), Sigmar Gabriel (Federal minister of economy and energy), Christian Schmidt (federal minister for nutrition and agriculture), Dr. Angela Merkel (federal chancelor), Luisa Heinrich (apple-blossom queen Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania), Katharina Steenbock (apple queen Schleswig-Holstein), Dr. Christian Weseloh (chairman of BVEO)
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Credit where it’s due: today, Federal Chancellor Merkel greeted apple- and blossom queens from seven different German cultivation areas. The regents appeared in the traditional dress of their home countries. As special guest present, they brought a gift basket with a selection of the best local apple types. The handover took place in front of the cabinet hall. Angela Merkel received a present basket containing her favorite apple type, the finely sour Boskoop. The other cabinet members were provided with the healthy, round fruits.
The baskets contained five different types: beside the red Boskoop, these were Elstar, Jonagold, Jonagored and Holsteiner Cox. The red Boskoop has a distinctive sour and firm fruit flesh, and is thus perfectly suited for baking and cooking. Elstar is the perfect table apple, Holsteiner Cox tastes particularly good as a frying- and baking apple, and Jonagored and Jonagold are the perfect all-rounders. Altogether they contain many important substances, and thanks to modern storage techniques, people can enjoy apples all year long.
Short roads, top-freshness, high production standards.
The handover in the chancellor’s office has been taking place already since 1976. It was initiated by the various German grower’s organizations. This year, the occasion is once again the start of the harvest season in Germany. The apple queens are traditionally elected by the individual state associations.
Gesche Wick represented the Alte Land. Jennifer Kreinacker represented Baden-Wuerttemberg, Luisa Heinrich Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Kathleen Goldammer was for the Free State of Saxony, Ilona Lubaschewski was present for North-Rhine Westphalia and Katharina Steenbock for Schleswig-Holstein. ‘Short roads to the origin, top-freshness and high production standards: Apple- and blossom queens know very well that fruit from Germany convinces with many advantages,” said Gesche Wick.
The apple is popular again among Germans
The German producers harvested around 885,000* tons of apples. Elstar remains the favorite type, which turned out to be 25 percent of the total sales volume. Braeburn took second place with a good 13 percent. Jonagold and Jonagored follow. The purchase quantity of private households proves that apples are popular once again. An average of 9.5 kilograms have been purchased from August 2014 to July 2015. This is an increase of almost 8 percent points compared to the same timeframe in the previous year.
*Source: Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft mbH (AMI) & GfK Haushaltspanels 2014/15
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